On June 18th and 19th I was privileged to represent The Veterinary Pathology Group (VPG) at the Veterinary Green Discussion Forum.

The meeting was held at the London Wetlands, a phenomenal site initially conceptualised by Sir Peter Scott. A genuine wildfowl wilderness on the South Bank of the Thames. The facilities there are fantastic for this type of conference.

The discussion forum is organised by the Webinar Vet’s Anthony Chadwick and seeks to drive the Green Agenda and the concept of the Circular Economy within the Veterinary Profession. We as a profession need to understand the concepts of Conservation and the Circular Economy to use our influence on modern farming practices and also our use of insecticides and acaricides in pets. These are two of the many environmental issues that face the Veterinary Profession. In our particular laboratory field, courier vehicles (now all hybrid), recycling packaging materials (fully in place) and the disposal of plastic laboratory waste (needs work) are paramount.

To me the conference was a revelation. There are some incredible initiatives occurring within the Veterinary Profession to drive these agendas and also significant input from large corporate companies who seek to do things better.

The topics underpinning the conference were Climate Change, the Circular Economy and UK Conservation and Wilding. This gave Global, Veterinary and UK Conservation perspectives.

Globally we saw a fascinating video of what the Renault Car Company in France is doing to develop circular mobility by recycling car parts and moving to electric cars. There was an exciting insight into the circular use of fertilisers from a Swedish company, “Ragnsells” who convert sewage sludge and fish farm sludge into calcium phosphate fertiliser which is pure and recyclable into the environment to encourage the growth of crops. This prevents us from mining phosphate from countries such as Morocco and then pouring that phosphate into our rivers and causing enrichment and pollution. A genuine example of the Circular Economy. From CEVA we heard about how to engender Green Change within a vast corporate structure and from Hills about tackling the issues of packaging products.

Professionally I was very inspired to hear about the tremendous efforts made by Paragon Veterinary  Referral Centre to encourage recycling, circular use of materials, appropriate disposal of pharmaceuticals and anaesthetic gases  and the development of Woodland and Wildlife Gardens around their practice sites, enabling local groups including primary school children and other visitors to see how it is possible to run a practice while promoting Natural Diversity, Wildlife and the optimal standards of the Green Economy.

There was a fascinating lecture about Pennard Veterinary Group which is employee owned and has B-Corp Certification. B-Corp stands for benefits for all and the triple bottom line: “People”; “the Planet”; and “Sustainable Profit”. These principles inform every decision that the practice group makes and provide a wonderful template that other privately owned and corporate practices could follow.

I was introduced to Vet Sustain a remarkable Veterinary Company with initiatives dedicated to the Circular Economy. The company advises Vets and Farmers on the Agricultural Circular Economy and Regenerative Agriculture. The lecture from the Chief Executive of this group revealed a wonderful depth of knowledge and insight into the challenges of future food production and impact that we as Vets should expect to have on doing things better within our agricultural and urban environments.

On UK Conservation we heard about the incredible work of the Kent Wildlife Trust in the development of nature recovery networks to drive wild species recovery even to the extent of reintroducing bison in a key Kent wilding project. The interaction of Wildlife Trusts with the Rural Payments Agency was an encouraging example of cooperative working between charity and government.

We started the conference with a session playing a game of sustainability, I have chosen to finish this article with the outcome! The game assessed how, with a Green Ethos, people could influence the economy of nations towards a greener more circular and sustainable pattern. As it turned out the attendees of the Veterinary Green Discussion Forum would do a pretty good job of improving the world !

Andy Torrance MA, Vet MB, PhD, DACVIM, DACVP (Clin Path), MRCVS

Founder, The Veterinary Pathology Group

Andy Torrance with Anthony Chadwick, The Webinar Vet